24/06/2009

Scotland-based distributor CineFile has acquired French director Philippe Lioret’s Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile] at the Edinburgh International Film Festival for UK and Ireland distribution.

The film won the Label Europa Cinemas, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Audience awards at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and has taken over a million admissions since its French release in March.

The Calais-set film looks at the relationship between a young Kurdish man (Firat Ayverdi) and his swimming instructor (Vincent Lindon), where the youngster persuades the older man to coach him to swim across the channel so that he can reach his girlfriend who lives in London.

CineFile Communications Director Richard Mowe said, “It portrays with brutal honesty the lives of refugees trying to reach the UK from France – the cold, hunger, casual violence from police and the risks run by some to help them. It’s a human story that seems certain to become an art-house hit and will cross over into multiplex cinemas. It could be another Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile]. The context of the Edinburgh International Film Festival is the perfect place to make this announcement.”

CineFile Acquisition Director Ilona Morison said, “There was keen interest in the title and we are delighted that the French sales agents and producers decided to trust CineFile’s expertise in distribution in the UK and Ireland. Our rights include theatrical, television and eventually DVD.”

CineFile have distributed French films like Cédric Klapisch’s Pot Luck and Russian Dolls [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the territory in the past. Welcome is set for an autumn release.